Ember can edit voxel grids, fields, and point clouds from the inside out.

Thinkbox Software will preview a new kind of 3D editor for digital content next week at Siggraph. Ember is a volumetric data manipulation toolkit, capable of editing fluid motion elements such as flame or water, as well as other digital content created by fields, voxel grids, and point clouds.

Ember is designed to edit 3D volume data such as flame effects. (Source: Thinkbox Software)

Ember is currently being developed as a plug-in for Autodesk 3ds Max, and is planned as a standalone tool in the future. An early version of Ember will be demonstrated at the SIGGRAPH Conference, August 5-9 in Los Angeles at booth #937.

Thinkbox says Ember will integrate with several third-party simulation packages including FumeFX, Phoenix FD, RealFlow and Naiad, in addition to Thinkbox’s own suite of VFX tools. Ember will allow the user to combine volumetric data in creative ways, allowing for post-simulation reprocessing that offers higher artistic control over the final results and reduces the production time by reusing and repurposing simulation data assets.

History-independent and history-dependent field processing, discretized or grid-less advection of fields and particles using various solvers;

Node-based workflow shared with other products like Krakatoa and Genome, including dedicated modular operators for caching on various grids, performing gradient, curl and divergence calculations, and more.

Ember is designed to work inside Autodesk 3ds Max. A stand-alone version is in the works. (Source: Thinkbox Software)

Power to the post-processors

The ability to edit billowing clouds, explosive flames, rushing waves and other volumetric data will not only be useful in the digital content creative process but will likely open the door to new workflows, such as re-using elaborate simulations. VFX artists will undoubtedly find new ways to add the synthesis and editing of volumetric and simulation data into their workflows. ?